The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1887-06-11
CHEAP LITERATURE.
THE GREAT CHANGES WHICH HAVE
TAKEN PLACE IN THE BUSINESS.

What II simple Little Machine Has Done
Toward Making Cheap Literature Pos
sihic-Wrctchcd Stuff Being Driven
Ou: of the Market.
'Tlirsc cheap books" continued my friend,
'havr made great changes i'll literature, and
tlc,' are destined to make more vet. They
themselves have changed, Us you may have
noticed, since they first made their appear
ancc. Most Of them started out as dime pub
locations, and for some time they We're sold at
that price. But the price WAS too low. Even
when the matter of the book was borrowed
from England, and cost the pulishernot!linr,
the expense of the mechanical work VIZ, too
great for such price. Now, rs You know,
most of the cheap editions are sold for either
twenty or twenty-five cents. This allows Il
fair margin of profit to the publisher,
even wien he pays the author for his
work; SO there is every probability that
the cheap editions will last. Perhaps you do
| not know how much Il simple little machine
has done toward making cheap literature pos
sible-1 mean the machine that binds PAM
phlcts with u tiny bit uf Wire, much faster
| and cheaper than thy can he sewcd SEQ
that Some of the publishers, presumably
those who do not publish any Cheap cdi.
tions,' complain that these cheap hooks aro
to lie found even i'll the houses of wealthy
people, who would not hesitate to pay $50
for a single chair Why should they not he?
1t is Il holncly old saying. hut 1, very true one.
that what is sauce for tie goose is sauce for
the Gamlcr The publishers will not pay in
America for what they can get for nothing,
in England; why, then, should readers pay SO
for what they can buy for twenty cents: l
donot believe, however, that the cheap hooks
interfere with tho sale of well bound, Land
somcly printed books that will last. They
rather help the sale of any book that is worth
preserving"
TIE ms AND OUTS.
Il almost suspect | told him, "that you
must have been in the publishing business
yourself at some time or other"
No, have not" he replied; "but have a
friend who is a publisher, and SO perhaps
know more of the ils and outs of the business
than l otherwise should. l think the cheap
editions help along good hooks in t!iis way:
they give readers Il chance 10 buy and exam
inc then, i'll the clieal, form, and then if they
prove to he worth preserving the reader buys
n bound copy for his library, when most
likely lie woul'l not have bought it if he had
not read it. This, Of course, is looking at the
matter from the publishers standpoint. For
the public l think the cheap editions are n
great boon. They give everybody an oppor-
tunity to keep informed of the literature of
the day at small cost. Even the boys arc
reading Them Not long ago, if called NJ,
office boy would see him stu.Iing some mis-.
cradle dime novel, Indian story or one of The
ilaslly boys papers into his pocket now frc.
quently see them reading books of n much
higher class, because they are equally cheap
and equally interesting, even, to a hoy with
any brains. If cheap works by good authors
CON drive out tho wrctched stuff that has
heretofore been sold to boys aud girls in this
country, that alone is n sufficient excuse tol
their existence. l can tell you of another
good work they are doing"
| "What is that's" asked.
"They are disgusting people with the nause
ating Sir Charles and Lady Clare Marble
Hall type of novel, in which impossible peo
ple who use ridicuously stilted language art
put in ritlicillously impossible situations, and
eventually marry and live happily ever after
ward. Have you not noticed that very few
comparatively fcw-of such books arc
| printed now. 1t is because the cheap cdi
tions have given people such e dose of them.
The ordinary reader can stand 50 much of
that thing and no more And the publishers
are not slow in finding out what there is de-
mand for and what there is not Perhaps a
few love sick girls still read such novels, but
hardly anybody else. II was only necessary
for people to have good dose of thrn and
they have had it."-Wm. Drysda!ein New
York Times.